Venison Carbonnade

Belgian carbonnade flamande is one of the few dishes from that little country to gain wide renown. Cousin to the more-famous French beef Bourguignon, this is a sort of hybrid stew-braise that relies on beer, not wine.

It’s hard to say when this dish was invented, but I’d guess sometime in the Middle Ages because it relies on a little bit of sweet-and-sour that is characteristic of that age of cooking.

Regardless of its history, carbonnade (carbon-ah’d) is a damn good dish to make with any sort of red meat. In this case, an elk shank. No, I haven’t been off elk hunting and didn’t tell you. I got the shank from my friend Suntino, who shot one a year ago. Deer shanks, beef shanks, or any sort of shoulder meat will also work fine, too.

You can take this dish one of two ways: as a full-on stew, or as a braise you then eat with a knife and fork alongside a starch and a vegetable; the “stew” then becomes the sauce. Holly and I ate ours with mashed potatoes and a salad. Either way you’re in for a treat.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

What does it taste like? Well, I like to use the hard-working, sinewy cuts of meat because when they finally do get tender, they get super silky and nice. So you’ve got meat falling off the bone, nestled into a lot of nicely caramelized onions, wild mushrooms and sometimes carrots, which we skipped in this version.

It’s the sauce/gravy/stew that makes it though: Dark, rich with a very European version of that magic combination of sweet-spicy-sour-salty. Mustard, cider vinegar and a little bit of red currant jelly mixed in does this; you can use brown sugar if you can’t find red currant jelly.

It is really, really good. I mean, really good. Make it this weekend and you will thank me later.

5 from 6 votes

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Belgian Carbonnade

Prep Time

15mins

Cook Time

3hrs

Total Time

3hrs15mins

I use shanks here because they have so much connective tissue: Once they break down, all that stuff makes the broth silky and it tastes as if there is a ton of fat in there, but there isn't. If I don't have shanks, shoulder is the way to go. You could do this with a large hind leg roast, but it would not be as silky. If you are using store-bought meat, my top choices would be beef shanks, stew meat and lamb shoulder. The beer matters here. Make this with a real Belgian abbey ale and you will understand why this is such a famous dish. The mustard is also pretty important, although not as much as the beer. Try to get a natural mustard, like a Dijon, not one with turmeric added for extra yellow. You don't need color here, you need flavor. As for the mushrooms, I use dried morels or porcini. Any good dried mushroom will do.

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Belgian

Serves: 6people

Author: Hank Shaw

Ingredients

3poundselk shank,venison shanks or shoulder meat

1/4cupduck fat or unsalted butter

Salt

3onions,peeled and sliced root to tip

1ouncedried mushrooms,rehydrated in 1 cup warm water and chopped

2teaspoonsdried thyme

3or 4 tablespoons flour

2tablespoonsmustard,Dijon is best

1cupvenison or beef broth

1or 2 bottles of beer,Belgian abbey ale is traditional

2tablespoonscider vinegar

1heaping tablespoon red currant jelly

Black pepper

Chopped parsley for garnish

Instructions

If you are using elk shanks, cut the shank off the bone in large pieces, about 2 to 4 inches across; same thing if you are using shoulder meat. If you are using venison shanks, you can leave them whole if they will fit into your pot.

Heat the duck fat or butter in a large Dutch oven or heavy lidded pot over medium-high heat. Pat the meat dry and brown it well on all sides. Salt them as they cook. You might need to do this in batches. Remove the pieces as they brown and set aside in a bowl.

When the meat has all browned, add the sliced onions and mix well. Turn the heat down to medium and cook the onions until they are nicely browned and soft, which can take a solid 20 minutes. About halfway through, salt the onions and add the chopped mushrooms and thyme.

When the onions are ready, return the meat and all juices from the bowl into the pot. Mix in the mustard, then add enough flour to dust everything in the pot.

Stir in the mushroom soaking water (strain it if there is debris in it), the venison broth and at least one bottle of the Belgian beer. You want the meat to just barely be covered. Pour in more beer if need be. Bring to a simmer, add salt to taste, cover and cook slowly until the meat is really tender, anywhere from 90 minutes to 4 hours if it's a big ole' bull elk.

Once the meat is tender, whisk in the red currant jelly, the vinegar and add black pepper to taste. Garnish with the chopped parsley. Serve with spaetzle, egg noodles or potatoes.

Like all stews, this one is even better the next day, and it reheats beautifully -- so it's perfect to make on a Sunday for lunches or quick dinners during the week. If you're into Belgian flavors, try my Venison Steak Belgian Style.

Amazing recipe. For the last two years we’ve trimmed the meat between the ribs off of whitetails and used that meat for this, gotta cook it a bit longer but worth the wait. Also found Chimay to be an excellent beer for this! Fantastic recipe for introducing skeptical people to game meat! Thanks Hank….can’t wait for Buck Buck Moose!

Carrots are missing from the recipe, which are pretty essential. You’ll see (taste) when you ad a reasonable amount of them it will be even more delicious! This is one of the Belgian national dishes, my favorite as a kid, and served with either cooked potatoes, mashed potatoes or fries, plus salad or maybe even compote. And like the original poster said the beef stew serves as a sauce as the center of the meal (not literally putting it over the potatoes or fries ;)). Bon appétit!

I just used cuts that I call “stew meat” . Random pieces with lots of connective tissue.

I struggled with the beer and then I found Westmalle Trappist Dubbel at my local store. That was a great find. It was a complicated, flavorful Belgian Abbey Ale. I had a second bottle with dinner and that worked well.

Mine took 3 hours to cook and might have needed a little more time. But this is definitely on the “make again” list.